12:9 - Matt Campell Fanfiction
by stay.beachy
Summary: Grayce Anthony would do anything for Matt, including leaving New York to follow him and his family to Connecticut. Upon moving into a house she was against the idea of, she is faced with many obstacles from "the other side" while she fights to protect her one true love. Who cares if she's "Cancer Boy's Girlfriend" when the dead come knocking at her door. -I suck at summaries smh.-
1. Prologue

" _One fine day in the middle of the night, two dead boys got up to fight. Back to back they faced each other, drew their swords and shot each other."_ Some might call these anonymous words "scripture," while others will fight that it is "nonsense". I was one of the few to read it as a subliminal message and told my boyfriend about it, knowing he would be able to disembowel the jumbled meaning. Who knew that one day these _insensible_ strings of words would have so much depth to our lives? How could one predict the sudden twenty-four seven cliff-hanger they call cancer? They don't have scripture or boot camps or kids shows that could possibly prepare you for the incredibly agonizing fall from life or have to sit by and watch, with everything to prevent the tragic landing out of grasp.

Matty

Is

My

Lifeline.

I would murder for him, die for him, anything. He doesn't know the extent I would go for him or for anything he needed. If he wanted the inner core of the Earth, I would stride through Hell and personally rip it from the depths of the world. He could ask me to quit everything in New York and move to Tibet, as long as I got to be with him. I would give him my soul if it meant that he could get better. I would give up the Gift in exchange for Matt. He is the only reason I live today. He is the one to push me forward and propel me to my limits. I'm Jewish so, I don't believe in the Son, but if me believing would have fixed Matty, I would have been the most devout believer. Romans 12:9 is the only line I've read that means something to my life by simply stating, "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good." Matty says it's my Bible verse, something that appeals to my life and the only "Jesus worshipping part of me." He's the only one that really accepted what was happening with me when I bluntly told him.

Living in 1987 gave us limited options for what we could do. Matty was one of the dead boys. He was trying to fight, but the other boy had a bigger hand in this round and was winning. I thought then that the dead boy was the damn sickness. Boy, was I wrong. The long nights of disgusting battles ripping him to shreds took it's toll on the Campbell family. At first, he never wanted me to see him when he was really bad. That lasted about a year, then gave into my bickering.

Matt was the leading man in our year. Everyone loved him because he was such a good guy and so great to be around. He was one of the star athletes at our school and no one would challenge him otherwise. I remember going to every one of his games and thinking, "how could I be this lucky?" He was so healthy and strong and loved then.

Hodgkin's lymphoma is the cancer of the immune system. As it spreads, attacking lymphatic system, it threatens and spikes at the body's ability to fight infections and battle certain diseases. Symptoms include fatigue, fever, chills, loss of appetite and increased sensitivity to the effects of alcohol. We found out late. Sarah thought he had the flu and it was too expensive at the time to run tests. She finally was able to get him help when his ancestors began to pull at him from the other side. Anyone that tells Sarah she was wrong for waiting so long is inconsiderate, abhorrent, vacuous, and had never met her. She's the most selfless person I know. She would go to the depths of the Earth for her kids and do anything for their safety. I would follow that woman into battle without a second of thought.

The Campbell's are mainly devout Catholics. I love to hear how highly they cherish faith and hold God on a pedestal of his own. I'm not saying I don't feel the same about the big man in the sky, but I have my doubts. Like, how could he plague this family of pure saints with such a poor fate for their eldest son. I knew he was real because, how could the other side be so riddled with the judgement of passing without him? All I can think of when they are screaming at each other about what step to take next and when the Earth will crumble underneath Matt, taking him forever, is the love is sincere and we should hate was is evil, like the deafening force pulling him away, and cling to what time we have left - the good. They all want to help and push him up, away from the yanking grip of death, and all they're doing is exhausting the boy and his immune system. Sarah's rosary is terrifyingly worn and if you look close enough, it's like the prayers are cracking through the small beads. The first time I witnessed her lose a bead was Matt's first MRI. We came home early from a baseball game because he passed out on the field. That was also a day that Sarah gave me a rosary. She said that even if I wasn't catholic, it would help protect me and those I prayed for.

I couldn't help but feel oddly towards God. He was ripping Matt from this family and had the guts to give me the Gift. He had the guts to send reapers knocking at the doorstep and sending me to this family, that I love as my own, to watch as they tried taking him.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I sat patiently on my bed attempting to read. The phone hadn't rung and I was fidgety. Since the summer rolled around, I found myself going crazy with boredom and worry. At least at school, I had distractions to keep me from thinking about what he was going through and the ache I felt when I was away from him. I wasn't there to, as Matt put it, "keep away the demons". Also, it kept me from the realization of how pathetic I am.

 _Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded -with what caution -with what foresight -with what dissimulation I went to work!_

But school was overrated. People can turn on you in an instant because of what you believe in or those you hung out with. They pretend to be your friend but murder the hope that anyone is real. They take all faith in humanity and crush it between their red, nail polished fingertips and flash their gnashing white bullets behind their tightened pink lips. I needed to know how Matt was doing. Not being with him leaves me scatter brained at moments. I don't know if I should start a new hobby when he's away or finish the others I attempted once upon a time.

 _I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime, I did not hear him lie down. He was still sitting up in the bed listening; -just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall._

I seemed to have left all my friends behind once Matt was diagnosed. He wanted me out of the dangers that came in luggage behind the Spades. My brother always said that people will become your weaknesses and tear you down. If you're alone, none can hold something against you and no one can make you feel emotions you don't want to feel. I love the feeling that friends gave me before everything happened. I loved having the Spades at my side and going to parties, but I would give it up a million times over to be with Matt.

 _It was open -wide, wide open -and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness -all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones; but I could see nothing else of the old man's face or person: for I had directed the ray as if by instinct, precisely upon the damned spot._

The phone finally rang. I picked it up with no hesitation.

Matt laughed when I answered so quickly, "Hey gorgeous, miss me?"

"More than you know. How was the office today?" I asked, twirling the cord around my finger.

He was in thought, killing my suspense, "It was fine. Sarah is going mad, saying that I'm too far away from the hospital and that the drive is going to kill me."

I grinned on the other line. "So, you're a contender for the treatment?!"

"Yeah, I got the part!" I chuckled at his joke. "You wanna come over? It's been around six hours since I've seen you last and it's driving me crazy…" I blushed. It's been three years and his little comments like this still excited me. We parted the phone call and I changed quickly, scraping on a little makeup. I grabbed my bag and quietly descended the long staircase. I held my breath as I spotted my father asleep in his oversized Lazy Boy chair. I opened the door with more precision than a snake could muster.

I got to the Campbell's house while the sun began to set. They no longer had me knock, but I still felt odd walking into their house, uninvited. Stepping through the threshold, I was greeted by a cluster of "hellos" and "how's it going?" Matt followed Wendy out of her room and winked as Sarah asked me about dinner and if a certain sauce tasted correct. She was discussing the fact that she had gotten my grandmother to wire her the recipe and she wanted to make sure it was right because the last time she had it was at my brother, Boone's birthday two years ago. As I looked up at Matt every so often, there was a presence behind him. The same one that I had been battling with for most of his life.

The Red Woman was Matt's haunter. She terrified the hell out of me, in all honesty, and I was pretty sure she knew about it too. Her eyes were like glowing pits when she was angry but soft and curious when I didn't intrude or push her away. Her hair stood was pinned back into a tight bun. Matt and I called her the Red Woman because she always wore red. I thought she was a reaper when I first saw her. Matt had turned thirteen and she latched onto him but never drew energy from him. We both battled over Matt's protection. She was one of the distant kind of haunters. She was stay behind him or in another part of the room and would whisper. Matt can sometimes feel her presence, he'll get a cold chill or something and look behind his back, but he has never seen her.

"She puts brown sugar in it, but never tells anyone about it," I whispered, snapping out of my trance. "Try that." She nodded and began to speak to Wendy about Peter. Matt grabbed my hand and we strode away from the group, up to his room. He plopped down on his bed and I followed suit as he wrapped his arms around me and buried his face in my hair.

"I missed you," he mumbled against my neck. "How was your day? You know what I've been up to."

I sighed. "Boring and banal." He chuckled in response. "I brought the book."

"Good, read it to me," his tone of voice was mellow and tiresome. I knew it had to have been from his round of tests yesterday. Getting confirmation to begin this experimental treatment in Connecticut was taking more out of him than chemo had. The Red Woman stood outside the door, but I granted her no entrance into the room. It was my time to look after him, and she knew it too.

I flipped through the book, looking for the small dog-eared page he had marked last time. "Weren't we on like chapter seven?" He hummed in response. I cleared my throat and began reading as his gripped tightened around me.

" _He put the inside of his right wrist against his forehead and pulled it away with a wince, the way you pull your hand off a hot stove. Burning up, all right, and full of tubes. Two small clear plastic ones were coming out of his nose. Another one snaked out from under the hospital sheet to a bottle on the floor, and he surely knew where the other end of that one was connected. Two bottles hung suspended from a rack beside the bed, a tube coming from each one and then joining to make a Y that ended by going into his arm just' below the elbow. An IV feed…"_

As I read, we slowly moved about the room. I sat against the wall and he laid his head in my lap at one point. During another bracket of time, he stretched across the width of the bed and I used his stomach as a pillow. His hand ran through my hair, sending chills down my body as he listened closely to me. His other was laced around my fingers as his thumb rubbed against the back of my hand.

" _The bed was a single, but there were two pillows on it. He could smell frying bacon. He sat up, looked out the windows at another gray New York day, and his first thought was that they had done something horrible to Berkeley overnight: turned it dirty and sooty, had aged it. Then last night began coming back and he realized he was looking at Fordham, not Berkeley. He was in a second-floor flat on Tremont Avenue, not far from the Concourse, and his mother was going to wonder where he had been last night. Had he called her, given her any kind of excuse, no matter how thin? He swung his legs out of bed and found-"_

"Grayce," he stopped me. "Will you tell me about prom night?" I furrowed my brows and put the book down.

"What do you mean?" I questioned, looking over to him, but he continued to stare at the ceiling of small glowing stars ready to come to life when he shut off the table lamp.

"I remember that night differently and, we've started doing this like, you know, like," he took a breath like he was trying to choose his words carefully. "Like, we tell our sides of the memory and it kinda makes a whole, and I wanna talk about your prom night. I feel bad you left the dance…" He sighed.

"Don't beat yourself up." I moved to lie next to him and he turned his head to me. "So, where do you want me to start?"

He thought for a moment, squinting at the ceiling. "When he asked you."

"Well, okay. It was at one of the tutoring sessions that I had with Elton and he just all of the sudden asked me. So, I told him that I was hanging out with you but he told me that he had cleared it with you first."

"Yeah, I'm not sure how he got my number, but I remember that…"

"Yeah, but I didn't know of that so after I asked you, you seemed so excited for me to go, even though I didn't want to - like at all." I turned my head to face him and swallowed. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly. "And I told him yes, bought a dress, and he picked me up at seven." He turned to me again with a look on his face that I had only seen a few times before. It was like a mixture of knowing and disappointment with a swirl of a child's face when the adult got to their favorite part of the story.

"And the drive there was super awkward and we put one foot in the door and Elton looked at me and said, " _Let's go."_ It didn't matter how much I protested and how poorly I felt, but we got back in the car and he drove us to the hospital." Matt rolled his eyes with a small smile. "So, here I am, haggling with the receptionist - who's first day was that day - trying to go see you with Elton's help. Then this other nurse comes out and it was Nurse Jamey and he was like " _These kids are with me"._ Then there's the montage, like in the movies, of me walking through the halls in a prom dress with Elton tagging along. And you were in the middle of breaking sessions with this guy in his thirties, I think his name was David, and the look on your face was priceless." We both began to laugh at the memory. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and I snuggled into his side.

"You laughed at me and shook hands with Elton and then Sarah was taking pictures of us. And you had the corsage pinned on your hoodie. And we spent the rest of the chemo night together watching Robot Chicken reruns." He was still holding back laughs from before.

"I felt so bad for stealing Elton's date and you missing prom night," he continued.

"Seriously, though, Elton had the whole dance. He went back and hooked up with like half our graduating class. He had the time of his life," I reasoned. "and so did I." He leaned closer to me and kissed my lips shortly.

"Are you staying for dinner?" He asked, breaking the moment of silence between us.

I looked at my wrist watch and frowned. "I don't know. I need to get home before Frank wakes up."

His head fell back against the bed in a distraught manner. "Frank can kiss my ass." I laughed at this.

"Oh, so that's what he's been busy with these past few years?" I joked. He covered my mouth with a chuckle.

"You're awful," he shot with a grin, removing his hand.

"You started it."

"DINNER'S READY!" Sarah called from the bottom of the stairs.

Matt leaned up on one of his arms, rolling over me slightly to yell a response to his mom. He looked down and kissed me, briefly again. I brushed his hair out of his face as he looked down at me with a smile. "I'm in love with you."

I snickered, letting out a small, "Are you now?"

"NO BABIES, MATT!" Billy yelled this time, sending us both into a laughing fit.

We walked down the heavy steps and I was immediately badgered by the family to stay. "We have important news and you need to stay." Sarah looked down at her watch as she spoke. "Hasn't Frank already left for work?"

"No, he has the eight shift. What's the news?" Mary shoved me into the dinner line before I got an answer. After we were all seated and eating with loud conversations coming from all corners of the table, Sarah shared a look with Peter and they set down their utensils. Everyone was silent as they looked at the couple perplexedly. The only remaining sounds were the awkward breaths coming from Billy as he tried to breath louder than Mary.

"So, yesterday, Matt found out he could get treatment in Connecticut. Peter and I have been talking and," she held her breath slightly like we were on a game show, waiting for our prize. "we're moving to Connecticut." Peter smiled slightly, I could sense he wasn't so keen on the idea. Wendy and the kids seemed pretty excited but I felt as if the air had been knocked out of my lungs. "It's not forever, just until Matt… gets done with his treatment," Peter added. Matt moved his hand to rest above my knee, knowing what was going on in my mind.

He's

Leaving.

Matt tensed next to me and we shared a look. The rest of dinner was buzzing with the kind of house everyone wanted to live in, but Matt and I were silent. I found that I began to force feed myself because I had lost my appetite. My stomach was on edge and would flip every other minute. I was embarrassed thinking that Matt and I would be together forever. Or the fact that I had to figure out what I wanted to do with my life after they left. What if they loved Connecticut and chose to stay? Would I get back in touch with the Spades? Who would I talk about my sightings too?

I helped Sarah with the dishes after dinner. My mind was lost in thought and despite me being rude for not talking, I couldn't keep a train of thought running in one direction for more than a few minutes. I began drying dishes as she washed them.

"You didn't really think we forgot about you right?" Sarah spoke first, not looking up at me but smiling down at the soapy water. I furrowed my brows at her. What was she getting at? "You've known Matt since elementary school and you guys have been dating for a long time. I mean, really, you even wear the promise ring. I didn't want to say anything in front of everyone, but Peter and I have been talking to Frank and Boone, and, since you help so much with the kids and Matt, we've gotten permission to take you with us." My mouth gaped slightly in shock, waiting for her to laugh like she was joking. This was a scene straight out of an awful romance movie. "Plus, I need you to come house hunting with me so I don't get something crazy haunted or whatever."

"Hmm?" It was like I was in a phase of confusion. What just happened?

"You're moving to Connecticut with us if you would like we would love to have you." She smiled at me this time.

"I don't want to impose. I already know how much you have to-"

"Stop it. You're coming with us."

I went home that night with a smile on my face. With Matt's crappy mixtape in the air, I felt a sense of relief. Matt was getting help and it seemed like Sarah was at ease. Plus, I didn't have to be away from Matt until school started back up again. I stepped through the threshold and threw my keys on the table next to the door. Frank stepped out from behind the wall of the kitchen with a sandwich in his hand and nodded his head slightly at me. He was already in his dark blue jumpsuit that was unbuttoned, revealing his white t-shirt.

"I figured you would have been gone by now?" I said, taking a seat at the buffet, looking into the kitchen.

"Nah, I got a call from the Campell's earlier that I wanted to talk to you about and you left before I could say anything."

"But I was here all day?"

"Don't undermine me, child," he barked jokingly. "Now, I think it's chill that you're gonna go live with your boyfriend and his family for a couple months, I mean, like aren't you guys already married?"

"Don't be a dick." I rolled my eyes.

"Well, usually a chick gets your initials tattooed after you're married…" His sentences lifted at the end like he was making a point. He rose an eyebrow at me and turn his back to continue flipping whatever was on the stove.

"Are you making fun of me?"

"Don't interrupt." I shut my mouth and shot him a glare. "But, if your mom comes around looking for you, I legally have to tell her where you are. And she might not be that happy about it. Who knows where Boone is, so he might come looking for you also. I'm just saying, be careful and watch your back. If you're in Connecticut, I can't do that for you." I now was able to see that he was making a grilled cheese, sending me back to when I was six, sitting on the same barstool and leaning over the counter watching him make my favorite food at the time. He didn't look as old as he does now, but not much else has changed. He was barely in his mid-twenties then. I felt an odd knot twist in my stomach.

He reached into the fridge and pulled out a tomato. "I'll keep the banshee off your back if you call me when you have a freaky sighting," he reconned. He set a plate in front of me and leaned on the counter.

"I'm not hungry," I mumbled, pushing the plate towards him. He pushed it back.

"Yeah you are." He sighed as I bit into it. He was right. I could barely eat at the Campell's. "I'm gonna miss you, kiddo." He frowned slightly. His dark hair hung over his forehead slightly.

"So, you still can't find Boone?" I roughly changed the topic, not wanting to break down in front of a man I respected so highly.

"Uh no. Last time I talked to him, he was in Jersey." He sat in the living room and began lacing up his heavy boots, so I turned in my chair to face him. "That Red Woman still climbing up Matt's tree?"

"I noticed there was something off about her today… Like she was making different facial expressions and I don't know. She just seemed weird.." Frank furrowed his brows.


	3. Chapter 2

Sarah and I dropped Matt off at chemo and began the treacherous house-hunt again. It had been a little over a week since it was decided that everyone was moving. Sarah and I had already looked at eight different houses before this trip and they just didn't seem like they fit the family. Sarah was growing desperate. We pulled up to a drive with a man hammering a sign in at the end. Sarah opened the door and caught the man's attention. "I don't wanna waste your time, but how much are you asking?" She sounded tired and determined.

"I'll give you the first month free if I don't have to hammer in the rest of this sign." We pulled up closer to the house after he agreed to let us check it out. When I set foot on the ground, something radiated from me. There were short flashes of a boy and man fighting in the yard and then groups of people entering the house. But they were short flashes like someone was changing the channel on a television. I felt a cloud of pain wavering near me. The man led us inside and I struggled to touch the walls or banisters. He was talking about the house and Sarah told me to go look around, but in reality she wanted me to do a reading.

I trailed my hand along the stair railing and could no longer hear Sarah and the man. I became surrounded by a tint of warm coloring like I was stepping into an old movie. Classical music swarmed above me, coming from a room down the hall of the upper level. As I made my way there, I now heard the singing accompanying the delicate symphony. I recognized it as Mozart's _Serenade No. 9_ from when we had to take music appreciation class in the ninth grade. The walls were a yellow hue in the room and on one section, a tree and birds were painted. The furniture was mainly white and all matched accordingly. In one corner, four bird cages were strategically placed next to a window. The sunlight poured between the bars of the cages, catching the light on the feathers of white, black, and blue birds.

"Magpies are loyal birds, you know." I was startled by the voice again. My eyes shot to a vanity, white like the bed frame and dresser. A woman sat powdering her face as she looked into the oversized mirror. Her hair was braided and wrapped around her head. Her dress was a layered garment of all types of lace and embroidery. "There's an old wive's tale about them pecking out the eyes of their leader's enemy to gain trust." My breathing became more rigid and I found myself almost suffocating in her presence. I leaned against the opened door of the room, my eyes glued to her, gasping for air. My throat burned and I felt my lungs aching to burst. She turned to me with a smile, that's when I noticed the large cut across her throat. I slumped onto the ground as she faded away as if someone swiped their hand through thick, acrylic paint that wasn't yet dry. A boy stormed into the room as I regained my head. He began riffling through a nightstand. The room was now a stormy tint and the tree of birds was slightly faded. He was definitely Matt's age and dressed in tattered looking clothes. His bright green eyes scanned the room, landing on me. I felt a pain in my chest again and an overwhelming amount of fear pulsing through my veins. The smell of burning flesh filled my nostrils and he narrowed his eyes at me in unease. With a flash, he was gone.

I was alone in the room, still sitting on the hardwood floor against the paint chipped entrance. I stood up, brushing myself off and collecting my emotions before continuing to explore. I traveled down the steps again and felt the pull towards the basement. A strong stench of formaldehyde and ash circulated in the air. I was startled by the odd part of the room that was sectioned off by wooden frames and large glass windows. I felt whispering around me, begging me to stay away. I stopped in the middle of the room, rubbing my sweater-covered arms to generate heat against the escalating draft. The walls began to stretch and show signs of struggling on the other end as if something was trapped beneath the wallpaper. I looked to my feet that were being surrounded by a warm, red liquid swelling in from every direction. The metallic smell of blood seemed to struggle against the chemical stench of formaldehyde. I felt sick and on a deserted island with the water being blood. The room around me grew darker and flames protruded from the base of the wall, climbing to the ceiling. I did not scream, I had learned not to do so. But the feeling of fear trampled my insides again as the room went to flames. The eerie sense of it all was that everything was silent. There was no screaming, ripping, popping, nothing, but dead silence. Until _Serenade No. 9_ fled the room slowly.

"Grey?" It was like someone had turned on the lights and broken me out of hell when Sarah's voice echoed off the walls. I was just in the middle of the basement. Everything was how it had been. After responding to her, I glanced at the doors once more before wandering back up the steps. Sarah thanked the man and we climbed into the car. "So, how was it?" She asked, tapping her thumbs against the steering wheel.

"You can't buy that house…" I mumbled, thinking about Billy and Mary, even Matt. She furrowed her brows slightly at me and I bit the inside of my cheek.

"Why not? It's our price, it's absolutely gorgeous, it's close to the hospital… The only issue is that it's… It was…"

"A funeral home?" I questioned, remembering the doors and formaldehyde smell. Usually, when there are people behind the wallpaper, it symbolizes that they were trapped there.

"Yeah." She sighed and leaned her head back. "How bad is it?"

"Let's just say, it wasn't a place where happy things occurred… I think there was a fire actually or maybe it was a downfall of some kind, I'm not very good at deciphering what happens. And how old did the guy say the house was?" I would have to be home earlier than I had planned so I could catch Frank. He would know what was happening.

Sarah thought for a moment. She looked indecisive. "Uh, I think he said late eighteen-hundreds?" Her lips pursed into a tight line. "What do you think it would be like if we did live there?"

"We'd have to get used to entities tampering with our lives. I'm advising you to not get that house. It's too dangerous." I felt like we were being watched as this decision was being dissolved in Sarah's head. I was tempted to whisper.

She nodded. "You're right. It was too good to be true anyway. Peter wouldn't settle for it." She let out a tired laugh.

Frank sat calmly as I told him everything I had witnessed. I wouldn't have bothered looking for a reasoning, but Sarah was considering renting it and I would be lying if I didn't say there was something compelling about the house. I knew that none of them were guarded enough to withstand what would happen in that house. "Fire and blood can mean many things. Like, it could be demonic, there could have actually been a fire, maybe there was some kind of downfall like with the family that lived there before. It can mean a lot of things. I think that if she does end up getting the house, you should do some more research on it."

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, destroying some of the curls on one side. "But there are kids and Matt. They are so susceptible to possession or worse. I don't want them to be at risk in their own homes and I don't want something bad happening to them," my voice shook with worry as I spoke. "They have enough to worry about."

"Sarah still has tons of options to shoot down, I think you're stressing for nothing." He was running a comb through his hair and gelling down the sides. I ran my finger along the embroidery on his duvet cover, thinking of the strange woman in the house.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I responded quietly.

"How's the treatment going?"

"Um, pretty good. It's a lot different than the chemo, but he's not nauseous anymore and he won't lose his hair again. He's got this really bad like body aches. And it's terrible because there's really nothing you can do for him. Plus, the radiation is killing his skin. It looks like he's got a sunburn on his shoulders and down his neck…" I frowned slightly.

"That's too bad. Guess you can't hang all over him anymore?" Frank joked, an attempt to lighten my damp mood.

"We manage," I answered with a small smirk, earning a light chuckle from him.

I sat beside Sarah in the waiting room. We were splitting a pack of Snowballs from the vending machine down the hall and then discussing how much we had regretted doing so. I had begun flipping through a children's book while she looked at the house listing ads in the newspaper.

"I'm going to see how things happen in Connecticut, like once we get settled and everything, but I'm going to work on getting a job," Sarah mumbled to me.

"That's great!"

"I just thought that since Wendy has the kids, and you have Matt, maybe I could find something part time so I could still help around the house, but a few extra bucks wouldn't hurt." She shrugged while circling something on the paper. Our conversation was cut short when a nurse brought Matt out in a wheelchair. I helped him into the car as Sarah stayed behind to talk to one of the doctors. I got into the seat next to him. He was so quiet and partly wincing at every breath wracking through his body.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" I asked, pushing his hair off his forehead. He turned to me with bigger eyes and a frown.

"I've been better…" he mumbled, biting his lip with a small chuckle and shooting his head forward with a wince. I sat closer to him and he instantly leaned on me as I wrapped an arm around his back. He clung onto my knee with one hand.

"I'm so sorry, Matty," I whispered into his hair. I couldn't see him that well anymore because of the darkness outside once Sarah pulled away. The drive was pitiful and rocky, shaking Matt around when he needed to be still. He clutched my sweater and grunted every once in awhile as the car bounced around. Sarah made eye contact with me in the rearview mirror.

"The doctor said you would have some body aches…" Matt leaned back against me with a laugh.

"So, the doctor walks into the room and the patient says, 'Well?' The doctor answers, 'Well, you have cancer, and Alzheimer's.' The patient lets out a sigh of relief, 'Ahh, at least I don't have cancer'," Matt snickered to himself and I rolled my eyes with a smile.

"You're terrible." A tear fell from Matt's eye as he was shaken again, holding on to me for dear life, it seemed.

"That's it," Sarah grumbled, turning the car around.

We pulled up to the large house that used to occupy as the funeral home of the town. My stomach ached getting out of the car, but I couldn't argue or even think against it. Matt needed rest and if this was how it had to happen, I wasn't complaining. Sarah and the man walked in front of Matt and I up the steps. She was thanking him because of how late it was and how short notice this all came about. He graciously gave us a mattress and a few sleeping bags. Matt gingerly laid on the bed, pulling me next to him and wrapping his arms around my shoulders and torso. I laughed slightly.

"I have to help your mom," I reasoned, pulling away from him, only to result in Matt pulling me closer.

"She's fine. I need you to help me," he stated promptly. I laughed and rolled my eyes. We both stared at the TV, not really caring what was on. As Matt leaned forward and shut it off, I noticed a figure standing in the doorway, blocking the light from the other room. I rolled over to face Matt, wrapping my arm around his waist, looking at the figure, then onto Matt's face. The way his eyelashes casted shadows on his cheeks from the other light made him look so much younger. The glow gave the aura that he was healthier. His soft snoring made me want to laugh. He could always fall asleep so easily and it made him seem almost innocent.

"I love you," I whispered to him so faintly, I myself could barely hear above the settling house, but the love is sincere.


End file.
